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Iraq deployed around 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city to protect the pilgrims from a feared ISIS attack.

The jihadist group, which is losing ground in Mosul, carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against their northern stronghold last month.

Elite forces battled IS jihadists in eastern Mosul om Thursday, looking for fresh momentum in their five-week-old offensive to retake the city.

Reuters

Iraqi security forces gather at the scene

Reuters

There were 'charred corpses' at the scene and debris scattered across the highway

AP:Associated Press

ISIS is currently fighting to defend its Mosul stronghold in northern Iraq

Maan al-Saadi, a commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP: "They cannot flee. They have two choices -- give up or die."

Over the past few days, Iraqi forces have cut off the main supply line running from Mosul to the western border with Syria, where IS still controls the city of Raqqa.

The US-led coalition also bombed bridges over the Tigris river that splits Mosul in two, reducing the jihadists' ability to resupply the eastern front.

Getty Images

It has carried out a series of high-profile diversionary attacks since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive

Getty Images

But they are slowly losing ground in the war-ravaged city

AP:Associated Press

And thousands of Iraqis have been displaced

"The Iraqi advance on the south and southeast of the city has started to pick up some steam, which we think is a really great development," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said.

"It is extraordinarily tough fighting, just brutal, but there is an inevitability to it. The Iraqis are going to beat them."

ISIS fighters moving in an intricate network of tunnels have used snipers, booby traps and a seemingly endless supply of suicide car bombers to stop Iraqi forces.

The authorities have not released casualty figures since the start of the offensive but fighters have admitted being surprised by how fierce ISIS resistance has been.